It now has five times as many rough sleepers than anywhere else in England, with the council blaming the law for not providing enough power to send home EU nationals who do not qualify to live in the UK after the initial three-month allowed stay.

The next highest number is much lower with 50 in the City of London, up from 35 last year.

Hillingdon had the third highest amount of rough sleepers with 45, up from 38 in 2013 and Kensington & Chelsea had the fourth highest, up from 23 to 34, an increase of 48%.

Hounslow had a massive increase with 88% more in 2014, rising from 17 to 32, while Ealing increased by two to 17 people.

Brent, Hammersmith & Fulham and Harrow all had 11 or below.

Councillor Rachael Robathan, Westminster Council’s adults and public health boss, said: “These figures speak for themselves. Westminster City Council works hard to help those in real need and who have a genuine link to Westminster.

“Home Office Immigration Enforcement already has the power to send home any EU nationals not exercising their EU Treaty rights after three months, and the council will continue to work with the Home Office and Metropolitan Police to ensure that this happens. However, the current legislative powers available do not go far enough.”

Across the capital’s 32 boroughs there were 742 rough sleepers, an increase of 37% from the year before, with London accounting for 27% of the total England figure, compared to 22% in 2013 and 24% in 2012. Rough sleepers increased by 7% outside of London.

The rough sleeping figures are collated by the government once a year from data provided by councils across the country.

Councils collect the data in one of two ways - by actually carrying out a count of rough sleepers on a single night, or compiling an estimate based on information including intelligence from outreach charities and the police.

Critics have long believed the official figures are likely to be a significant underestimate of the true number of people living on the streets, as it is based on a snapshot of a single night.